Timber trade and the conservation of forests, Five years EUTR, October 8-9, 2018, Hamburg, Germany.
The international event "Timber trade and the conservation of forests" held on October 8-9, 2018 at the Thünen Institute in Hamburg highlights five years enactment of the European Timber Regulation (EUTR), and at the same time the 5th anniversary of the Thünen Centre of Competence on the Origin of Timber. The conference considered experiences to date in order to draw conclusions for successful further development.

2016

October 2016Salvador de Bahia 2016 IAWA Symposium: The hydraulic architecture of plants through time
During the next World Congress of IPC and IOPC in Salvador de Bahia (Brazil) from 23–28 October, 2016, Jonathan P. Wilson, Anne-Laure Decombeix & Lisa D. Boucher will be convening an IAWA Symposium on hydraulic architecture of plants through time. They will soon solicit contributions fitting the themes of the symposium as outlined below.
Land plants function as integrated systems despite their ability to shed discrete organs in response to reproductive necessity or environmental stress. Roots, stems, and leaves work in a concerted physiological network that must often serve opposing needs. For example, with xylem there must be a tradeoff between efficient mechanical support and water transport. This session will explore how new fossil discoveries, novel qualitative and quantitative approaches to plant function, and experimental analyses of living plants together shed light on the evolutionary history of plant hydraulic architecture. Studies of land plants ranging from Silurian to the present, united by the theme of water relations – including anatomical, hydraulic, and environmental interactions – are invited. In palaeobotany, root, stems, and leaves are typically found isolated and there has been a tendency to focus on single organs, so we particularly welcome studies of whole plant hydraulics and anatomy. Presentations relating to single organs, groups of organs, or trends through time are also encouraged to foster discussion from different perspectives.
Please visit http://alpaleobotanicapalinologia.blogspot.nl/2013/04/xiv-i-nternational-p-alynological-c.html

June 2016International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS) 50 years young
Readers are reminded of the Jubilee meeting of the IAWS in Paris from June 1–3, 2016. The conference covers “all aspects of wood science, i.e., biology, chemistry and physics of lignified natural materials and products derived therefrom” (www.iaws-web. org). Over the last half century many IAWA members have been elected Fellows of the Academy, and there has always been a close and fruitful cooperation between IAWA and IAWS. At his stage it is befitting that the 85 years old IAWA offers the Academy its congratulations and best wishes for a brilliant future.

March 2016World Wood Day 2016 in Nepal
The World Wood Day celebrations organised by the International Wood Culture Society (IWCS) will be on the 21st of March (coinciding with World Forest Day of the UN) in Kathmandu, Nepal. As usual there will be a scientific symposium (from 21–23 March) in addition to many cultural events and an international wood carving exhibition and competition.
The theme of the symposium is Nature and Culture: Interdisciplinary approaches to Peaceful Coexistence and Sustainable Development. There are six main topics: 1) Historical Utilization and Cultural Heritage; 2) Wood Products and Traditional Practice; 3) Recovery and Restoration; 4) Economic Growth and Sustainable Development; 5) International and Domestic Challenges; 6) Art, Design and Architecture.
For more details, please visit www.worldwoodday.org

July 2015World of Wood 2015 – Joint IWCS–IAWA meeting – Call for papers
World of Wood 2015, the annual meeting of the International Wood Collectors Society, this year co-sponsored by IAWA, will be on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University. The programme will run from Monday, July 20th to Thursday, July 23rd. Host and organiser Dr. Chuck Ray writes: Attendees will be able to select from a menu of classes, lectures and events, including microscopic wood identification (how to use the IAWA Hardwood and Softwood Lists and the InsideWood database); principles of wood collection, documentation, and organization; the Penn State wood collection; numerous demonstrations, e.g. wood turning and wood sculpting, etc. Seminars on wood energy, certified wood marketing, wood appreciation, and forest woodlot stewardship are also on the programme. The focus from IAWA is outreach to knowledgeable wood collectors and enthusiasts. There are still time-slots available for contributed papers on wood anatomy and wood science in general. Please contact Chuck Ray (cdrpsu@gmail.com) and visit the dynamic web page at: http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/forests/woodpro/world-of-wood

July 2015Joint IAWA-IWCS meeting in Penn State University – July 2015
At the invitation of the International Wood Collectors Society, IAWA has agreed to co-organize its Annual General Meeting at Penn State University from 20–23 July 2015. The theme will be “Back to School”, and the full facilities of the university, including faculty and guest speakers will be used to “hold class” on both “wood science” as well as current research topics. It is also envisioned to have concurrent meetings in related fields such as forestry, bioenergy, lumber drying and grading, silviculture, etc. The role of IAWA members will include teaching microscopic and macroscopic wood courses and workshops, and lecturing on current topics in applied and fundamental wood anatomy research. Currently a planning committee is being formed. We will keep the IAWA Membership posted on new developments.

May 2015IAWA co-organizes the Tropical Forest Ecology Meeting in Tervuren

From 26–29 May 2015 the international closing symposium of the XYLAREDD project “Wood science underpinning tropical forest ecology and management” will be held at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium). The Afro-European Group of IAWA and the IUFRO Unit 1.02.00 - Tropical and subtropical silviculture, will act as co-organisers.

Background: Tropical forests and woodlands contain substantial carbon stocks, buffer climate change and produce raw material for local communities and international trade. The public concern for the fate of tropical forests resulted in the creation of a number of mechanisms assuring forests to sustainably produce valuable goods and services. One of the best-known mechanisms is the REDD+ mechanism of the United Nations aiming at the reduction of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Since the Conference of Parties in Poznan in 2008, it comprises a chapter on sustainable tropical forest management. Another mechanism is the CITES convention regulating the international trade of endangered species, including important tropical timbers like American mahogany, afrormosia, ramin and some of the rosewoods and ebonies.

Next to REDD+ and CITES, several instruments have been established to conserve and manage tropical forests, their species and populations: some national forest laws, the FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) mechanism, the timber regulation of the European Union, the US Lacey Act and a number of forest and timber certification systems.

Sound forest management and effective conservation policies, including the ban of illegal logging, typically needs scientific information. Tools from the domain of wood science provide part(s) of this key information. Indeed, wood anatomy allows for verification of the authenticity of the material. The carbon sequestration processes can be evaluated by retrospective growth analysis performed on stem discs or wood cores. Finally, high-resolution data on wood density hold key information for the development of models on carbon stocks.

The objective of this international symposium is to explore how wood science can contribute to the needs of tropical forestry. We aim at bringing together wood and tropical forest scientists as well as policy makers and invite keynote speeches, oral presentations and poster sessions related to the following four subtopics:

Wood anatomy and other identification means for the enforcement of laws and regulations

April 2015COST-Action STReESS, final meeting
On 13 and 14 April the EU COST-Action on “Studying Tree Responses to extreme Events – a SynthesiS” (STReESS) will hold its final meeting in Joachimsthal (Berlin), Germany. This COST-Action, co-ordinated by IAWA Member Ute Sass-Klaassen, has been very successful in generating collaborative, interdisciplinary research on forestry science and tree biology, emphasising the crucial role of wood and phloem structure, function, and development. One of its earliest meetings in Naples was co-sponsored by IAWA and led to the much cited special IAWA Journal issue on “Wood Structure in Plant Biology and Ecology” (Baas, Battipaglia, De Micco, Lens, & Wheeler, eds., 2013). The forthcoming IAWA Journal issue on Functional Traits in Wood Anatomy, is another result of the successful cooperation between STReESS and IAWA.
For further information visit www.streess-cost.eu

March 2015WWD 2015 Symposium Wood and Humanity in Eskisehir, Turkey
The third World Wood Day Symposium will have as its theme “Wood and Humanity” and will be organised by the International Wood Culture Society in Eskisehir, Turkey from 21 to 23 March. Please refer to the following link for the whole event programme and the symposium (http://www.worldwoodday.org/2015/symposium.html). Please feel encouraged to register and present a paper.

IAWA Symposium at European Palaeobotanical Congress in Padua, Italy
Marc Philippe and Jakub Sakala are convening an IAWA Symposium at the 9th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference (EPPC) which will be held from 26—31 August in the beautiful city of Padova, Italy. Theme of the symposium (S 5): Fossil wood, from taxonomy to palaeoecological syntheses. For information on registration fees, housing, field trips, programme, etc. please consult the conference website at:http://www.geoscienze.unipd.it/eppc2014/index.htmlMay 2014

IAWA Committee on Bark Terminology meets in May – Brazil
From 17—24 May the IAWA Bark Committee will convene in Brotas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, to discuss and hopefully finalise an IAWA List of Macro and Microscopic Features for Bark Research. The workshop is generously funded by Brazilian research agencies and hosted by Veronica Angyalossy (chair) and Marcelo Pace, both from the University of Sao Paulo. Other members are Guillermo Angeles, Pieter Baas (co-chair), Alan Crivellaro, Jozica Gricar, Leo Junnika, Ekatarina Kotina, Frederic Lens, Carmen Marcati, Solange C. Mazzoni-Viveiros, Nadezhda Nikolaeva, Alexei Oskolski, Karamanchi Rao, Teresa Terrazas. Special advisor in absentio is Professor Ray Evert, world famous phloem expert.